closed head injury

[3boysanddad]

i am new here, still trying to navigate the site, not sure where to post this question. I have a 16 year old son who is SSI open water certified. He had a severe closed head injury at 4.5 yrs old, severe brain bleed, almost died. He is perfectly fine now, however I am concerned about future diving for him, in particular dives that require deco stops, anything beyond recreational diving, etc. Not sure what his plans are but I dont want to find out at 60 ft that he shouldnt have been there. Thanks for any help.

 

[flots am]

i am new here, still trying to navigate the site, not sure where to post this question. I have a 16 year old son who is SSI open water certified. He had a severe closed head injury at 4.5 yrs old, severe brain bleed, almost died. He is perfectly fine now, however I am concerned about future diving for him, in particular dives that require deco stops, anything beyond recreational diving, etc. Not sure what his plans are but I dont want to find out at 60 ft that he shouldnt have been there. Thanks for any help.

Call Scuba Diving Medical Safety Advice ? DAN | Divers Alert Network

They should have an answer or be able to refer you to an actual doctor who can see your son in person, if necessary.

Nonemergency medical questions: 1-800-446-2671 or +1-919-684-2948, Mon.-Fri., 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. (ET)


flots

 

[pasley]

The injury in question was 12 years ago, and you say he is perfectly fine now. Has he had any issues from this old injury in the past 10 years?

I would recommend that to address your concern you do the following: 1.) Contact Diver Alert Network at 1-800-446-2671 and 2.) If you are not already a certified SCUBA divier yourself, you should get certified to SCUBA dive. Knowing more about diving will help you with your concerns.

NOT MEDICAL ADVICE, Not a doctor or other qualified expert - A concern would be if he has seizures then diving is probably not for him. Since he is already certified I will take it that he does not have seizures.

Individuals with Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI), what used to be called a Concussion or Closed Head Injury are currently diving. The military is doing studies on using hyperbaric treatments for TBI. Ancedotal results from TBI SCUBA diving has shown increases in memory (short term) and other benifits. I have taught many TBI to SCUBA dive.

Right now your son is certified to dive to 60 feet of non-decopression stop diving. In the future he may decide to take additional training to dive to 130 feet which is still non-decompression stop diving. After that he may decide to take still more training to start techinical diving which would be decompresion stop diving to deep depths. Decompression Stop diving is still years in his future, if he ever goes there. Lots of great diving at 60 feet or less.

 

[TSandM]

Assuming your son has no cognitive deficits, attention issues, or seizures, there is nothing about a past head injury that should preclude him from diving. However, if he has had to do a lot of compensation for brain damage, it is theoretically possible that he might be more susceptible to narcosis than other divers, so it would be wise to be cautious about extending the depth to which he dives.

Edited because I missed the fact that he was already certified: Since he was able to take the class and pass it, I would assume that he neither has seizures nor any significant problems with attention or impulse control. Therefore, it would only be the worry about narcosis and impairment that would remain as a potential concern.

 

[freewillie]

The current recommendation from "The Sports Diving Medical" Dr. John Parker by DAN is no diving after severe head trauma for 3 years. Since he is already certified there should be no issues with cognitive functioning other than he is a typical teenager with age related impulse issues for any normal risk taking impulse for teens. The caveat is that recommendations are for standard recreational diving not "tech" diving with mandatory decompression stops.

 

[mizzie]

You could always have your son see a doctor just to be sure. I know there are a lot of doctors who don't know much about diving, but if you contact your local dive shop they might be able to recommend one. It couldn't hurt to have him checked out and get the ok, just to be on the safe side.